Between the Bars
by Odile1001
Summary: The Dark Lord has a grand plan for Hermione; she is to unintentionally become his greatest weapon in the war. Severus needs to find a way to stop him.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Here's the first Chapter of my newest story. I haven't written for quite a while so I hope I'm up to standard! I have lots and lots of exams coming up shortly, so I will try to update as regularly as possible. I'm hoping that this will become quite a long story so enjoy reading, criticism is welcome! Thanks x

* * *

Severus stalked down the empty corridor unable to sleep. He had tried everything: marking, reading, a firewhiskey, but nothing worked. His insomnia had gotten worse, perhaps the all-new record of 6 potions accidents achieved by Mr Longbottom this week, or, much more likely, the horrific Death Eater meeting he had attended yesterday. He was still in shock and had no idea of a plan.

The burning of the mark had been normal enough. Not exceptionally painful as to indicate an angry Dark Lord. He had apparated into a suburban driveway at the same time as Lucius and they had walked up to the unremarkable muggle house and entered. Pettigrew had been waiting for them inside, a gleeful but nervous smile on his pinched face as he led them down to a cellar.

What Snape had seen then had almost made him drop his occlumency shields.

The cellar was large, and resembled a horrific dentists surgery. The other death eaters were lined against the walls, some watching silently and some obviously greatly enjoying the meeting so far. On the dentists chair was Hermione Granger.

Leaning over her was Lord Voldemort, a look of intense concentration on his face as he entered her mind. Her eyes flew open and her mouth gaped in a horrific silent scream. The Dark Lord suddenly ripped away from her mind, and turned to greet his two, highest-ranking death eaters. Severus suppressed a shudder as Voldemort gave him a ghastly smile, baring his pointed teeth.

"Severus" he hissed, "Look what young Draco has found me to play with tonight." He looked back to Granger, who seemed to have gone into a seizure. Bellatrix giggled madly from the right, her features looking sharper and even more horrific in the florescent light.

Severus didn't say anything as he watched his student shaking in the chair. There were straps around her wrists and ankles, and one around her forehead. She was still wearing her school robes, now muddy and ripped under one arm. Her eyes rolled back into her head as the fit became more violent.

The Dark Lord stopped the seizure with a flick of his wand, and closed her eyes, almost tenderly, with two long, graceful fingers. A tear of blood escaped from one eyelid. He caressed her cheek, brushing the tear away with his thumb and returned his gaze to Severus.

"She has a brilliant mind, Severus, if only we could have her. I wonder…"

He suddenly entered her mind again, smirking. Severus felt as if he was going to retch.

"Why don't you come and see?" The Dark Lord asked, not breaking the connection, a small smile deforming his snake-like face further. Snape walked slowly over.

He entered her mind alongside Voldemort's. Where Voldemort had violently cut through her memories like knife, Snape was gentler, exploring tentatively. She had an organised mind, memories laid out in neat sets according to subject and in a chronological order. The enormity of her mind took Snape by surprise and her obvious ability to memorise information and adapt those memories to new situations and environments was outstanding.

He searched for the memory of how she had been caught and easily found it, on the top of a tidy pile of memories. He began to look through it, feeling uncomfortable with the Dark Lord looking over his shoulder in the depths of her mind, seeing what he was seeing.

Hermione had been out walking the grounds; she couldn't sleep. She had shrugged her school robes over the top of a pair of sweat pants and a tank top, but didn't seem to feel the frosty breeze that whistled through the bare winter trees. Her hair fanned out behind her as she walked, curly tendrils flying around her and getting in her face. She brushed them away impatiently as she continued walking, getting faster and faster as she became more eager to get to her destination. She was heading towards the forbidden forest and Snape felt his stomach churn in dread of what he was about to see.

She jogged through the shrubs on the outskirts of the forest before finding a thin winding path, skipping over brambles and leafless branches. After a while Miss Granger came off the trail and stopped for a moment to catch her breath, it misting out in front of her. And again she was walking, lightly stepping over twigs and ducking under tree braches, until she suddenly stopped and looked around as if to check that this was the right place. She nodded to herself and sat on a tree stump, waiting.

It took a few minutes, and then the forest began to come to life. Miss Granger watched with rosy cheeks and bright eyes as jade green plants sprouted from the barren, winter undergrowth and curled up into the air like beanstalks. They lit her face up in a pretty green glow and she smiled as more plants began to appear. Delicate white flowers blossomed around her feet and she laughed as a small robin flew across the scene, chased by flourishing emerald ferns. Red poinsettia seemed to wind elegantly down a leafless tree and Snape could have sworn he saw a bright yellow daffodil bursting into life next to a patch of luminescent white snowdrops. The scene was like a utopic fantasy; a forest that didn't care of the season, coming to life for Hermione Granger, her happy face glowing in the shine of the moon and the beautiful plants blossoming around her.

Snape wondered about how the hell she had found this place, how the eclectic range plants existed together in that small clearing? He had walked through the forest on countless occasions, on all the trails and away from them. He had never seen anything like this.

Hermione's face suddenly dropped into a disappointed pout as the ferns seemed to shrink away and wilt from a part of a tree about three feet from her left. Within seconds the whole scene had withered and the pretty luminescence of the supernatural plants had died away, leaving only the light of the moon to see by. Miss Granger drew her wand, looking around at the wasted undergrowth, back in its winter depression.

"Lumos" She whispered into the darkness, and pointed her wand towards the nearby tree. And then the men, or rather boys, were upon her. Crabbe and Goyle pinned her down as Draco pressed his wand against his mark.

"The Dark Lord's going to love this, she'll be a great little toy at father's Christmas party, just look at those tits!" Draco laughed nastily as he grasped her breast and gave it a harsh squeeze while she struggled. Granger's school robes ripped. Her wand had fallen out of her hand when the boys had pounced and Draco picked it up off the ground and pocketed it. He gave her a smirk and said, "The others will be here any minute, Granger. Consider this payback."

Hermione's eyes widened and she went still.

"Draco…" She pleaded, "Draco please, please don't do this, you don't want to do this." A tear trailed down her cheek as the full gravity of her situation hit her.

The pops of apparition sounded around them and Hermione heard a "Well done, Draco, the Dark Lord will be very pleased indeed…" before she blacked out.

* * *

The memory continued as Hermione woke up, strapped into the chair.

The sound of laughter greeted her, and she vaguely saw Draco Malfoy sauntering over to her before the sharp pain of him hitting her blazed up against her cheek. She was half aware of Malfoy unbuttoning her school robes as she saw stars, and then she was fully conscious as she felt him pull down her tank top and spit on her chest.

"You should be grateful for the attention, you frigid little mudblood," Draco snarled at her as she began to cry. He pulled her top further down so both her round breasts were exhibited for the entire room to see. There was more laughter and more pain as Malfoy slapped his hand against her nipple making her scream.

"Oh did you like that, you little slut?" Malfoy laughed as he slapped the other harder. Miss Granger clenched her jaw together, tears streaming down her face as she looked Malfoy in the eyes, watching him, full of loathing. Snape felt sick to his stomach. He could feel the Dark Lord watching the memory with him, gaging his reaction, enjoying the replay of the girl's pain.

Crabbe came over to her then and began to grope her thigh. She looked away, cringing, shutting her eyes as tight as they would go.

"Mmm shall we all check out Granger's little virgin pussy now?" Crabbe sneered, and thrust his greasy hand down her sweat pants.

The Dark Lord apparated into the memory scene as Granger gasped out a scream; Crabbe had thrust two fingers into her. Snape almost retched at the pain on the girl's face. He was aware of the Dark Lord removing himself from her mind so he followed, barely able to look at the unconscious girl in the chair.

"I think she could be something brilliant, Severus," The Dark Lord said, his red eyes gleaming. "Before you got here I have been exploring, tweaking little bits here and there, but she will need much, much more work. Her mind is one of the largest I have ever seen, and I plan to use her to my advantage. Leave us." He hissed at the other Death Eaters, pointing to the door. They gradually disappeared, some looking back as they apparated away, others chuckling at the spectacle of Potter's girlfriend getting finger-fucked by Malfoy's friend, before disappearing.

"You see, Severus, what we have here is a gift. With the right direction she could be the greatest weapon we have against Potter. Especially seeing as she is so close to him. I have a plan. She will be missed if gone for too long, so I will need your participation. I want you to bring her to me whenever I summon you. I will create connections in her brain, connections that will win this war. She will be obliviated after I work on her of course, we can't have her running to Dumbledore. But the links will still be valid. During the battle all we will need is to activate those links and she will be a weapon like none other. Powerful, spectacular and exquisitely dangerous. Her mind will be trained personally by me, you will only bring her to me and check on her normalcy in Hogwarts. This scale of mind alteration has never been done before, Severus, but I will be successful. The girl is the key. I can put my faith in you can't I?"

Voldemort's red eyes looked straight into Severus's, straight into his mind. "Of course, my Lord."

"Good. Now, she needs to be obliviated and that bruise on her cheek healed. We can't have the other side know of our plans. Severus, if you would do the honours?"

"Obliviate." He almost whispered the word, watching as the girl seemed to sigh as the dreadful memories were removed. "I will return her to the school now, if you wish my Lord."

Voldemort nodded and apparated away, leaving Severus with the glow of his red eyes burned into his mind. Severus looked back at Miss Granger, going over to her before healing the bruise that was swelling under her eye socket and gently unstrapping her from the chair. She slumped down and another thin tear of blood trailed out of her eye. The strain on her mind must have been far, far too much. More than most people could take and still be alive, in all likelihood. Severus lifted the girl from the chair, wiped away the bloody tear and apparated back to Hogwarts, unsure on how he could best play this out.

In the Head Girl's rooms, Severus removed Miss Granger's ripped school robes, repaired them and threw neatly them over a chair. He laid her on the bed, deciding against finding her pyjamas and just scourgifying her sleeping form of the dirt it had accumulated through the night. He pulled the covers over her and left without looking back at her exhausted body.

Back in his chambers he removed his memory of the night and put it in his pensieve. It was no wonder his insomnia had returned with a vengeance; his life had certainly just got a whole lot more complicated.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hiya, sorry for the long update, I'm going to try my best to post a new chapter once a week. Hope you enjoy this chapter, I have a vague idea of where I want this to go, but would love to hear what you want to happen! Thanks :)

* * *

Hermione woke up with a splitting headache. Crookshanks was curled up next to her and yawned before he stretched out and put an affectionate orange paw on her stomach. Hermione began to get out of bed, head pounding, and nearly fell over as she slowly stood up. She groaned, clutching her bedside table as the room spun around her.

She staggered slowly into to her bathroom, reaching into her medicine cabinet and swallowing a pain reliever. She switched on the shower and lay down, the water pouring over her. Hermione must have lain there for 15 minutes before she was feeling better; her head felt as if it was being squished through a meat grinder.

After dressing, Hermione walked slowly down to her first class, wary that any sudden movement might make her head pound again. Harry and Ron greeted her outside Transfiguration as they waited for McGonagall to arrive.

"Are you ok, Hermione?" Ron asked, feeling her forehead while she swatted at him to get away.

"Just quieten down, Ron, I've only got a headache. I don't need your mothering right now, I've already taken a pain reliever." She snapped at him.

Ron backed off, giving Harry a look.

The whole day was a nightmare for Hermione. She got piles of homework from all of her teachers, dropped her bag on a staircase, losing one of her best quills, and got leered at by Malfoy and his cronies, all the while with a constant thumping head. She had shrugged off the encounter with Malfoy; it was nothing out of the ordinary, apart from the disturbing way Crabbe seemed to undressing her with his piggy, little eyes.

In fact, the best part of her day had, unusually, been Potions. Snape had seemed to be utterly exhausted and set them some simple potions in order to stock up the infirmary. He had spent the whole lesson at his desk, watching the students, especially poor Neville, but even he had completed all the potions successfully. Hermione was able to work on autopilot, despite Harry muttering about how this work was Snape's job and swiftly losing Gryffindor five points. Hermione was just happy for the unchallenging work and was sending Snape grateful thoughts. Snape had suddenly looked away from Neville and caught her gaze for a moment, his expression unreadable. In a second his eyes were on Draco and his lips seemed to thin, ever so slightly.

Hermione went to bed feeling utterly exhausted. Her homework had taken her longer than usual because of the constant ache in her temples and she fell asleep easily.

That night she slept fitfully, dreams of horrifically red, slitted eyes burning into her mind, raising goosebumps on her skin and making her curl up protectively. Within her mind she searched for the problem, she knew there was something wrong within her, but couldn't search it out. She became more panicked as two figures walked towards her in the half-awake, vividly realistic, morning dream, eyes fluttering. She tried to breathe, panic welling up inside of her like a great expanding ball, and the figures got closer. They were faceless and she felt one reach out, the leader, with long fingers getting closer to her. She could hear their breath, a deep rumbling growl and the fingers were moving ever-closer…

Hermione woke with a start, jerking and falling out of her bed as a purring Crookshanks tried to rub against her forehead. She bashed her foot on the way down and ended up scrawled across the floor with a very happy Crookshanks cleaning himself, sat on her warm pillow where she had been lying moments before.

"Bloody cat," She sighed and got up, ready to face the new day. She gave his ears a gentle scratch before going for a shower and then down to breakfast.

Hermione's day started out much better than the day before. Her headache was greatly reduced, but she took another pain potion just to make sure her work wasn't disturbed by it.

She spent her lunch break in the library, planning on further researching the incredible luminescent qualities of the plants in the forest. She had discovered the clearing in the forest during fifth year. She had been wandering through the grounds, unable to sleep because of her haunting nightmares of Harry staggering away from the Triwizard maze, clutching Cedric's lifeless body. Hermione had walked straight into the forest, not caring if she got taken away by the centaurs or eaten by Grawp. She had slumped herself on a tree stump and begun to cry, the pressure of Umbridge, the Inquisitorial club, and Ron's stupid relationship with Lavender simply too much. The forest had then revealed itself to her, slowly, almost shyly blooming into a beautiful, glowing utopia.

Ever since then, the clearing had become her sanctuary. She had made the place her own little project, discovering through observation and research how it had come to be. She had not told anyone about it; there wasn't even any mention of it in 'Hogwarts; A History'.

Hermione sat down in her favourite spot in the library with a book on Botany before remembering something very strange.

Through her observations, she had discovered the clearing only became available at certain times of the month, when the moon was a quarter, and three quarters through its lunar cycle. It was half moon two days ago, and she was sure she had planned on visiting it. She frowned as she tried to remember, coming up blank.

What had she been doing that night? Hermione was certainly not one to forget things. She puzzled for a few moments, going over everything that she had done. She reached back through her mind, visualising all the possibilities. And then she found it, buried deep in the back of her mind.

She had been in a deep, exhausted sleep, but was woken slightly by the pop of apparition. She had been in someone's arms, being carried up a staircase up to her rooms. Hermione struggled to remember the someone's appearance, going over being put into bed. It was definitely a man, and he had been strong enough to apparate them both to the castle and carry her all the way up to her rooms. She also remembered him pointing his wand at her. Finally she came across the hint that gave the person away. He had very black eyes, piercing. There was only one person she knew with those eyes. And the thought filled her with dread. There was obvious signs of foul play in the memory. Why had she been carried and tucked into bed by Snape of all people? What had happened that night that she couldn't remember?

Hermione steeled herself, knowing that the only way to get answers was to talk to the man himself.

She made her way down to the dungeons, and knocked on his office door.

"Enter." He called, and she went in, curious and slightly afraid of what, if anything, he was going to tell her.

"Miss Granger, what do you want? I am extremely busy." He said, looking up from essays.

Hermione didn't really know where to start. What happened if she was just imagining things? But then she gritted her teeth. She was not the kind of girl to hallucinate memories out of thin air. She was a sensible girl, and she knew that what she saw was true. She also knew that something was missing. A true Gryffindor, Hermione sat down at Snape's desk and looked him in the eye. Yes it was definitely him who had carried her. He raised an eyebrow at her presumptuousness.

"Sir, I came to talk to you about an event that happened two days ago." She paused to gage his reaction. Nothing. His face was schooled into an unreadable mask.

"I woke up yesterday with a splitting headache, but dismissed it as nothing to worry about."

"Miss Granger, you should have gone to the Hospital Wing if you were in need of pain killers, I am not a nurse."

"Sir, I think you know exactly what I am talking about." She regarded him and he looked straight back at her, as if not wanting to be the first to look away.

He sighed. "Go ahead, I think I know. What is the problem?"

"I seem to recall you, of all people, carrying me up to my rooms and tucking me into bed." Her eyes narrowed, accusingly. "And the rest of the night I cannot remember. I want to know exactly what you did to me; I don't have any memories of anything else that night and feel absolutely certain that I have been obliviated."

His lips thinned. "Very well, Miss Granger. You shall most certainly find out, although I regret the situation. I should have come to you first, instead of you worrying about missing memories. It does involve me after all and is completely necessary. As lunch break is nearly over and I have a class to teach, come to my office at 7 o'clock tonight. I must say, what you are going to find out is not going to be a pleasant experience for you. At all."

She nodded, desperate to find out what had happened. She didn't think that Snape would do something to harm her, although she didn't really know for sure. Something felt very strange about the entire situation. She felt violated; no one had the right to take away parts of her mind!

* * *

Hermione found herself knocking on Snape's door for the second time that day at 7 o'clock sharp. He called her in. She felt as if she was walking to the guillotine.

"I think it's best if you come through here." He led her through a door at the back of his office and down a stone staircase that was gloomily lit. He muttered a password and stepped up through a large painting of a skeleton, Death, Hermione imagined, whispering into the ear of an angel. The skeleton turned his head slightly, as if listening, and at Snape's slight nod allowed Hermione to step through as well.

She followed Snape into what looked like a fairly comfortable living space. There was a dark sofa and a matching armchair, both looking out through a large window with a view right into the lake. The place was lit by the green light coming through from the lake and a couple of sconces that were held on the wall between many bookcases. The overall effect, Hermione thought, was quite friendly in a strange kind of way.

Snape opened a hidden cupboard next to a particularly overflowing bookcase and took out a pensieve. Hermione, having never seen one before, was now doubly curious. She would not only be seeing her missing memories, she would be seeing them through Snape's point of view. How utterly bizarre.

"You may need a moment to prepare yourself, that night was particularly horrible for you. Would you like me to explain what happened first, or just dive straight in?" He asked her.

"Could you just give me a brief overview?" She asked timidly, now very afraid of what she was going to see.

"Very well. You started the night in the clearing in the forest. You will have to explain that to me later, that part was particularly interesting for me." Hermione looked at her feet, slightly disappointed that somebody else knew about her clearing. Snape continued, "Your night was interrupted by Mr Malfoy and his friends, who took you to a muggle house in order to wait for the Dark Lord." Hermione went pale. Snape spoke as if he had learnt this story off by heart. "There you were strapped into a chair and violated. The Dark Lord arrived shortly after and entered your mind. Basically, he was extremely impressed with you intelligence. He wants to use you to win the war. And that is the brief summary. I'm… sorry, I couldn't do anything to stop him without revealing my position and getting us both killed."

Hermione's skin had turned a ghostly white. She looked as if she were about to faint. Snape looked quite uncomfortable and started to reach out to her before deciding against the action.

"Do you want to sit down?" He asked her, unsure on how best to address the matter. Snape had felt the best way to approach telling her was to be as direct as possible; she was a Gryffindor after all and was able to deal well with facts and figures as he had seen in lessons.

Hermione slumped into the sofa, trying to process the information.

"Let me see the memories." She whispered, looking up at him.

Severus had no idea how to deal with the traumatised teenager laid on his sofa. He really didn't like her feet on the seats but a sharp voice in his mind told him that he knew it wasn't a priority right now. Should he offer her a cup of tea? No, that was pathetic. He'd just try and get the whole thing over and done with as quickly as possible.

He handed her the pensieve and placed in on the coffee table. He decided he would, in fact, make her a hot drink whilst she looked; if it were him he'd rather be in peace anyway. And normally, a good strong brew always made him feel better; Snape was a northerner after all.

Severus went into his kitchen and started making two cups of tea. Rather than calling the House Elves, it gave him something to do while she was watching those awful memories. He got out a tray and put some biscuits, sugar and milk on it as well. He felt like laughing. This was absurd. He was bringing the girl biscuits! As if _that_ of all things would make her feel better. He put the biscuits back into the dusty cupboard he had found them in, then took them out again, thinking _Oh,_ _what the hell_. He put them on a plate next to the sugar all the while cursing his sentimentality. He bought the tray into the living room.

Hermione was sat with her head in the pensieve. Her hands were on her lap shaking. Snape quietly went over a set the tray down on the coffee table.

Suddenly she emerged from the silvery liquid and was promptly sick all over the biscuits.

Snape had never been so put out in his life. The one time he decided to actually be nice to someone! He realised that his mouth was hanging slightly open in shock. Hermione looked up at him timidly.

"I'm really sorry…" She coughed and then bit her lip. "Have you got any water, please?"

Snape quickly pulled himself together, vanished the ruined biscuits and went to get her a glass. _Bloody idiot,_ he thought to himself, _she didn't need any bloody biscuits, and they were probably out of date anyway._

He returned and handed her the glass. Her hand was shaking slightly as she gulped it down. After she had finished, she sat quietly, breathing deeply to calm herself down. Her mind worked through the memory, processing all the information.

Voldemort wanted her mind. What on Earth had he done to her, whilst rummaging through her brain?!

Hermione looked up at Snape who was looking uncomfortably at his mug of tea.

"He wants to mess about in my head once a week?" She asked him softly, as if pleading with him to tell her it wasn't true. Snape nodded, directing his gaze at her.

"What am I going to tell everyone? Do you mind if I tell the boys I'm working on an extra assignment in the labs? Also, how am I going to hide this memory of you showing me your pensieve for next time he sees me? And what will be the side affects of the weekly legilimency, sir?"

Snape rubbed his temples. Two minutes after seeing herself going through emotional and physical torture and the questions had already started. He took a deep breath and looked right into her eyes.

"I believe, Miss Granger, that I have a plan."


End file.
